Is there anyway to check if the location of a html tag

Question

Is there anyway to check if the location of a html <a> tag exists before leaving the page and display a message to the user rather than redirecting to a 404 page. I'm also using jQuery if that helps.

Something like this:

When tag clicked run a method call a function
Check if href of link
Exists if link exists redirect
Else display error message to user

Short answer: yes. Do you have the ability to check if a page exists (with your server)? — Halcyon, Jan 02 '15 at 19:54
What do you mean by "check if href or link"?? That makes no sense to me. — Scottie, Jan 02 '15 at 19:55
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3922989/how-to-check-if-page-exists-using-javascript — Amr Elgarhy, Jan 02 '15 at 19:55

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited Jan 02 '15 at 20:34

It depends on whether the page exists on the same domain or not. If you're trying to determine if a page on an external domain exists, it won't work - browser security prevents cross-domain calls (the same origin policy).

If it is on the same domain however, you can use jQuery like Buh Buh suggested. Although I'd recommend doing a HEAD-request instead of the GET-request the default $.ajax() method does - the $.ajax() method will download the entire page. Doing a HEAD request will only return the headers and indicate whether the page exists (response codes 200 - 299) or not (response codes 400 - 499).

Example:

$.ajax({
type: 'HEAD',  //HEAD request will only return the headers,with response codes 200 - 299
url: 'http://yoursite.com/page.html',
success: function() {
    // page exists
},
error: function() {
    // page does not exist
}
});

Is there anyway to check if the location of a html tag

1 Answers1